France

The Extreme Light Infrastructure project started and has been strongly supported for a long period of time by France. It is then natural that France co-ordinates the ELI Preparatory Phase. 13 laboratories have expressed their strong will to work on the ELI-Preparatory Phase.They all report to the same institution: the CNRS. The main contractor for France is therefore the CNRS, which will act under the auspices of the French Ministry of Research (Funding Agency).

Within the 13 laboratories, the Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée (LOA) is the most involved one in the ELI Preparatory Phase. It will naturally become the leading French laboratory. The commitment of France and the Île-de-France region is sizable by the very recent statement to grant up to 26 to 28 Million Euros to the French laboratories for setting up a prototype of ELI.
This amount of money does not take into account the salary of 50 or more researchers and technicians involved in this French project.

France has a 30-year-expertise on femtosecond lasers and is one of the world leaders on secondary sources (x-ray laser, x-ray sources, attosecond sources, and particle acceleration) as can be evaluated by the large number of high-impact publications (Nature, Science, PNAS etc). CNRS has been a major participant in the construction of several facilities in France (ESRF, SOLEIL, GANIL…). It then has a high expertise in all the administrative aspects of a facility, like the legal, financial andgovernance, etc., aspects of suc a project.

Germany

The Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Ministry of Education and Research) commits itself to support the Preparatory Phase of the Extreme Light Infrastructure. They already strongly support the German laboratories involved in the ELI Preparatory Phase. Independently, also the Max-Planck-Society (MPG) has granted the MPI for Quantum Optics (MPQ) a sum of 5 Million Euros to build a new kind of ultra-intense femtosecond laser, called Petawatt Field Synthesiser (PFS). Its technology forms the basis for the front-ends of two of the three ELI pillars, and it will serve as a testbed to study several scientific and technical issues.

In particular, PFS will deal with attosecond pulse (1 as = 10-18 s) that represents today an important field of research in Germany as can be denoted by the impressive number of large public articles (4) about attosecond researches performed by MPQ in the BMBF science portal. To conclude the presentation of the German Research Ministry interest in ELI, we quote this sentence from the BMBF web site: "Gaining knowledge on the structure of matter and the fundamental interrelations in nature is among the decisive elements of our education and research."

Romania

The Autoritatea Nationala pentru Cercetare Stiintifica (National Authority for Scientific Research) will be the Romania funding Agency with as main contractor the National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics. From the very beginning Romania has strongly supported the Extreme Light Infrastructure as a project with potential major beneficial impacts at the National level. The Laser Department of INFLPR develops research work in the field of technological application of ultra-fast lasers and, particularly, for focusing the femtosecond laser beams below the diffraction limit.

Romania committed to support, by funding National research projects, the Romanian laboratories involved in the ELI PP with equipment and salary costs for an important number of researchers.

Italy

The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) will be the funding Agency as well as the main contractor. Seven Italian laboratories will be involved in the ELI Preparatory Phase with about 20 researchers. INFN will also give some high-priority access to PLASMONX (a laser facility) and SPARC (a free-electron laser prototype) for researches related to ELI.

The input from the Italian groups on safety (radio-protection) and technical is expected to be important. INFN has also a long experience on developing or operating large-scale facilities that will be very valuable. One of participating laboratories (ULTRAS laboratory of the Politecnico di Milano) has a long term expertise on generation, characterization and application of ultra-short laser pulses.

Greece

The General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) will be the Greek Funding Agency mandating FORTH-IESL to be the main contractor. GSRT committed itself to actively support the ELI Preparatory Phase. The Extreme Light Infrastructure is in the new Greek Roadmap for large-Scale Infrastructure. Two important Greek laboratories will be involved in the ELI Preparatory Phase.

United Kingdom

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) will be the English Funding Agency for the ELI Preparatory Phase as well as the main English contractor. "Royal Charter has formed STFC in 2007 (by combining CCLRC and PPARC). "The Council operates world-class large-scale research facilities and provides strategic advice to the government on their development" (STFC).
It is therefore the most natural partners in the UK to follow ELI-PP and make the project move forward or take any necessary decision before the construction can start. The UK has experts in lasers who will complement well the German-French group.

Czech Republic

The Czech Funding Agency will be the Research Ministry that mandated the Institute of Physics (IoP) to act on its behalf during the Preparatory Phase. IoP has got a recognized expertise in running large-scale laser facilities e.g the PALS laser for about 10 years. They will be important partners for structuring ELI or for designing the target areas or the experimental chambers.

Spain

The Funding Agency for Spain will be the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia. However, due to the administrative structure of Spain, we are expecting commitments from the Comunidad de Madrid and from the Junta de Castilla y Leon. Spain is building a laser in the University of Salamanca, which enables them to acquire substantial knowledge. They are also world-recognized experts on plasma hydrodynamic modelling necessary to precisely control the design of x-ray laser beamlines.

Bulgaria

The National Science Fund (NSF) of Bulgaria will be the Funding Agency. NSF will mandate Sofia University to accomplish the necessary work in the frame of the Preparatory Phase. Sofia University (Physics Department) has great expertise in the field of non-linear optical effects in crystals and also in the modelling of generation and amplification of attosecond pulses and their interaction with matter.
With this knowledge implemented in large-scale Ti:Sa laser (like ELI one), they have already demonstrated a great improvement of the beam parameters. This technique is particularly crucial for the last stage of ELI.

Portugal

Fundação para a Ciência a Tecnologia is the Portuguese funding agency. Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) will be the Portuguese institution involved in the Preparatory Phase. IST is the largest and most prestigious school of engineering, science and technology in Portugal. It is equipped with a large computer cluster for plasma simulation and a multi-terawatt-laser laboratory.
IST will lead the networking of ELI-PP since they have acquired a large and recognised worlwide expertise of conference or workshop organisation. They have also lead a European FP6 project.

Hungary

The Nemzeti Kutatási és Technológiai Hivatal (NKTH) will be the Hungarian Funding Agency giving mandate to the Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics for working on ELI-PP. They have high knowledge on femtosecond and attosecond lasers, dispersion management and diagnostics, that will be very beneficial to ELI-PP.

Lithuania

The National Science and Studies Foundation will be the Lithuanian Funding Agency mandating the Vilnius University (V.U.). The V.U. has a high expertise on femtosecond as well as nanosecond lasers, being of the partners of LASERLAB- Europe. Researches on biophotonics, optical damage, laser beam shaping and characterisation, 3D numerical modelling of laser-matter interaction in nonlinear medium are undertaken in Vilnius University and will serve ELI PP developments.

Poland

The Ministry of Science and higher Education will be the Polish Funding Agencies and mandated the Institute of OptoElectronics (IoE) to take part in ELI Preparatory Phase. The IoE has a long tradition on working on soft x-ray sources produced by laser, with important results using an original gaseous target allowing enhancing dramatically the repetition rate thanks to possibility to shoot many times without changing the target.

Austria, Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands

These countries represent the second ring of participants in the ELI Preparatory Phase. Their Funding Agencies have planned to observe the evolution of the ELI-PP before committing themselves. Laboratories of these countries have important expertise, which is required to progress quickly and efficiently on the Preparatory Phase. They will then be contractors.